The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1887-02-04
THE STRUGGLES OF AN ACTRESS.
after Toll and EndeavOr to Reach Port
and Sink in HarbOr."

"After Toll and Endeavor to Reach Port
and Sink in HarbOr."
"Whom do you consider the finest
French actress that you ever saw"
of you ask me-" replied Nile Rhea
what French actress pleased me most in,
dividually, then can at once reply, All
NEE Desclee. All, she was wonderful.
And what a strange woman to those who
did not know her we'll Her art was OF
the purest, most natural kind. 1t was sc
like nature that half the time she seemed
not to be acting. You know if you are a
pupil at the conservatOire, they do pc
culiar thing when you have finished your
course. They write your name in a large
book, where hundreds of names have been
written BEFORE and they make little
note of it. When Desclee had finished
what do you think they wrote? This:
Not bad-looking. Will do for small
parts 1t sounds trifing does it not?
But, as 1 said before, to be considered
capable of doing minor roles at the Fran
Gals, is no little thing"
Did Desclee go to the Francais?"
she went to half a dozen theatres, and
she was everywhere abused by the critics,
and often laughed at by the public. 1t
made her bitter. She grew to hate the
theatres and the public, but worked on
Two famous men watched her care fully.
The men were Meilhac and Halevy
Soon they wrote Frou Frou, and insisted
on Desclee for the leading part They
were laughed at, but they got Desclee.
The first night came. In the opening act
the artist, for she was an artist. walked
on to the stage as if she were in her own
home. Everybody said, she is not acting
See how fine her art was. In the second
act the spectators were watching her
closely. When the climax to the third
act electrified Them they stood up from
their seats, waved their handkerchief,
and shouted. Desclce had won at last The
manager of the theatre rushed to her
dresslng-room to congratulate her You
have conquered them he said. She re-
Piled bitterly, is it so? Well, hope they
will like me long enough to enable me to
pay Tor my Frou FrOu dresses, which cost
10000 francs
"One triumph followed another In
the Prlncesse Georges she was magnifi-
cent. There was no straining for effect
everything was nature. In the act where
the Princesse Georges discovers her hus-
bands perfidy, every actress who had
previously played the part used to speak
the line TO the husband, 4 forgive you be-
cause L love you, in most theatric man
ner, almost shrieking the last half of the
sentence Desclee did it exquisiteIy She
spoke the first three words as if the mar
don came from her heart. Then She
waited for moment as if seeking fo, a
reason, dropped her hands helplessly be-
fore her, and said quietly, but in tones OF
intense pathos, because l love you.' It
was simplicity itself, and it was nature
Her triumph was short lived. The dis
ease which afterwards killed her soon fas
tened upon her. Many night she acted
when suffering most frightful agony.
Shortly previous to her death she wrote
a letter to friend, in which she said. Is
it not hard? A lifetime of struggle, toll
and endeavor; reach the port at last and
sink IN harb0r.' Believe me when : tell
you that France has no Desciee on her
stage to- day. New York Mail and Elk
press.